By Garry Maddox and Karl Quinn
Barbie and Oppenheimer – the Barbenheimer one-two punch that was the great hope for cinemas still recovering from the pandemic – have triumphed at the global box office over the weekend.
Greta Gerwig’s vibrantly coloured comedy, which stars Margot Robbie as the iconic doll, had easily the biggest opening in Australian cinemas this year - surpassing The Super Mario Bros Movie.
Margot Robbie in Barbie and Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer.Credit: AP
Worldwide, it took a stunning $501 million. And while projected to take at most $150 million in North America, Barbie reached a whopping $230 million. In Australia, it took $21.6 million, including many sold-out previews on Wednesday night, and brought waves of patrons to cinemas dressed in pink.
The only bigger opening weekends have been largely superhero and fantasy sequels, headed by Avengers: Endgame ($34.1 million).
In possibly a bigger surprise given it’s a three-hour, MA15+ rated, historical biopic about the father of the atom bomb – and was competing against Barbie – Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer opened strongly with almost $260 million worldwide.
Expected to take $74 million in North America, it performed much better with $120 million. In Australia, Oppenheimer took a strong $9.4 million.
Two movies that lived up to the hype - not centring on superheros, not sequels and fizzing with ideas - had audiences heading to cinemas in the biggest numbers since the pandemic shutdowns. While Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken doubtless attracted patrons to Barbie, Oppenheimer shone despite having the lower-key Cillian Murphy in the title role.
Margot Robbie in Barbie.Credit: Alamy
The breaking of box office records – always to be taken with a grain of salt given increasing ticket prices - was always a chance considering the Barbenheimer buzz. Barbie had the biggest American opening for a movie directed by a woman, either solo or in a duo. The previous record holders were Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman and Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Captain Marvel.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, it was the biggest American opening for stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling and the biggest three-day opening for a movie based on a toy, eclipsing Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
The success of Oppenheimer meant the two new releases took more than $750 million around the world. Universal Pictures, which released both films in Australia, said they drove Australian box office records for both a Saturday ($11.1 million) and a Sunday ($10.5 million).
Australian cinema executives were buzzing on Monday morning. The chief executive of Hoyts cinemas, Damien Keogh, described the box office for the two movies as crazy.
“What a weekend!” he said. “We’ve had a couple of movies that probably haven’t delivered this year, with what you’d call superhero fatigue, so Barbie, on the back of Super Mario Bros ... is working really well.”
Having initially expected the movie to take $20 million, Keogh said it could now take $50 million.
Event Cinemas’s director of entertainment for Australia, Luke Mackey, described the atmosphere in cinemas as electric and said many fans watched both films on the same day.
“The auditoriums were full of fans dressed in pink, fluoro, disco or just plain fabulous,” he said.
The chief executive of Palace Cinemas, Benjamin Zeccola, said the weekend was like two Boxing Days in a row.
“The thing that struck me was the celebratory mood,” he said. “There was just such great atmosphere. Everyone seemed so happy. Even after some longer than usual queueing, they’d get to the front still smiling.”
Up to June 30, the country’s total box office struggled to $480 million – down 5.7 per cent on the first half of last year and down 23 per cent on pre-pandemic box office in 2019.
There are now high hopes for a strong second half that could take box office past last year’s $941 million.
The biggest concern is whether the Hollywood actors’ and writers’ strike will see the release of major movies postponed until actors can promote them. Last week, Force of Nature: The Dry 2 was yanked from a planned Australian release next month until Eric Bana could support it with interviews and Q&A sessions.
Christopher Nolan directs Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer.Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures via AP
Oppenheimer was a triumph at the country’s only (for now) IMAX cinema at Melbourne Museum, setting a record for advance ticket sales. Before opening, the single-screen venue had sold 27,000 tickets worth just over $1 million.
Nolan now has five of the top 10 films at the cinema, with Interstellar (number four with $1.38 million), Dark Knight Rises (#6, $1.07 million), Dark Knight (#8, $1 million) and Dunkirk (#10, $970,000) also on the list.
Oppenheimer is expected to be a hot ticket when Sydney’s new IMAX cinema opens at Darling Harbour soon.
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